Ghosts … in Mukwonago?

Posted: Oct. 23, 2012

Halloween is the prefect time for stories about things that go bump in the night. But what if it wasn't Halloween, and those strange footsteps are more than just a spooky tale? Unearthly Whispers Paranormal Group (UWPG) of Waukesha has been investigating everyday hauntings for more than two years. Out of all the investigations they've been on, one Mukwonago house yielded more ghostly proof than any other.

Co-founders Nadine Leder of New Berlin and Jim Zwitter of Racine were called to the home on Highway L to investigate reports of unaccounted for footsteps in the night and the sound of doors opening and closing. There was also a report of a party being held at the home. When the people woke up the next morning, the mess had been cleaned up, but by whom? No one in the house did it; at least not anyone currently living. Along with their team of four others, Leder and Zwitter investigated the 1900s Mukwonago farm house on Jan. 27, 2012.

The home's spirits began making their presence known immediately that snowy night. Using a variety of equipment, including digital voice recorders with parabolic dishes, night vision cameras, still cameras, the team set out to find answers to the mysterious events.

Investigations begin with a medium walking through the building to get a better sense of the energy inside. At the end of investigations, the mediums are also able to cleanse the home of spirits, if the owner wishes.

Inside the Mukwonago farmhouse, unaccounted for voices were captured nearly as soon as investigators hit "record." Most of the sentences were captured while investigators were going about their normal business; however, some responses were recorded directly after investigators asked a specific question.

In their effort to piece together who might still be linger in the home after death, investigators asked, "Is there a spirit of a man out there?" They couldn't hear it at the time, but listening back to the audio, a disembodied voice answered "John Thompson." They also asked who the spirit is that wakes up the boys in the middle of the night. The tape recorder caught the answer: "their grandma." Investigators asked a spirit when they lived in the house. "1950s" was the answer.

Some of the electronic voice phenomena (EVP) were much more sinister. Those captured on tape include: "I'm mad at you forgetting my children," "Demons … you have a lot of them," "why won't you forgive me?" "I'm not such a great person," "kill the mother, let him go" and the most eerie sounding EVP of all: "RUN!" in a wavering, fear-filled voice.

Other phrases were more reminiscent of normal conversation such as "I could go for some coffee" and "I have children." Some statements suggest that spirits may be able to communicate with each other. One EVP caught a spirit saying "They're by the steps." They also captured a disembodied voice saying, "I don't want them here."

Leder explained that not all spirits are bad or mean harm. Some spirits are residual, which means past events are being replayed in present time. Often these spirits aren't aware of humans around them.

"A residual haunt is the replay in time of an event, usually a violent or traumatic event. A spirit might be reliving this trauma without being aware of what's going on around them, and if seen might walk on by you because it won't know your there," Zwitter explained.

Other spirits, like those caught in the farmhouse, are aware of what's going on.

"EVPs like 'Here they come,' 'help us,' etc. seem to indicate more than one spirit would be there and would be in contact with each other observing what we are doing," said Zwitter. "This type of spirit, entity or ghost would be considered intelligent. That would mean the spirit is actually seeing what is going on around them and observing what we are doing."

Through the course of their investigation, UWPG was able to determine that there were three spirits in the home: that of a woman and two men. There were also able to learn that the woman died during childbirth and one of the men killed himself.

"It's probably one of the best places we've done," Zwitter said in terms of the amount of evidence collected.

So what does the group say to skeptics? When you have experienced the things that they have, there is no doubt that spirits exist.

UWPG

Unearthly Whispers was formed around two years ago and provides its investigative services at no cost. However, they will sell a DVD to clients with all the evidence collected.

The group has also investigated Heaven City in Mukwonago, which is rumored to be haunted by Al Capone.

To see the video of the Mukwonago haunting, the Heaven City investigation and others, search "UWPG" on YouTube.